3 jun. 2012

My Review: Snow White and the Huntsman (5/10)

This is as close of a Tim Burton version of
Snow White then you`ll ever see (even if Tim Burton himself directs one). The
visual style of the film is pretty dark, but fascinating. It stands out in the
film, but what the movie has going for it visually, it lacks story wise. The movie
dragged for very long periods of time and moved really slowly. If it weren’t
for the great visuals I might have not made it through this original version of
the classic story we`ve all seen hundreds of times before. Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs was Disney`s first feature length movie and one of my favorite
classics. I recall the darkness of it involving the evil witch, but I also
remember the sweetness of Snow White and the playfulness of the seven dwarfs.
Director Rupert Sanders does a very good job at setting the dark mood thanks to
the strong performance from Charlize Theron, but he fails to capture the
sweetness and innocence that embodies Snow White. As much as I like Kirsten
Stewart, she really never convinced me as Snow White and that is my greatest
complaint along with a lack of a better or more engaging storyline. This film
was written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini (the
screenplay writer of my favorite film last year: Drive), but despite being
beautifully shot and having great visuals it lacked a bit more heart in the
story and a better conclusion. Despite moving so slow during most of the story,
it seems to finish rather quickly and abruptly at the end. The movie does have
some positive things however, such as Chris Hemsworth`s performance and some of
the great actors playing the dwarfs.

We are all familiar with Snow White, although
this film does take several liberties and takes us different places (despite
having several of the same characters and lines from the original like ¨Mirror,
mirror on the wall who is fairest of them all? ¨).Snow White is played by Kristen Stewart who`s
a princess until the day her mother dies and her father remarries Ravenna
(Charlize Theron). Once Ravenna becomes Queen she murders Snow White`s father and
locks her in the towers. The evil Ravenna begins to rule and the kingdom grows
very dark. She`s a witch with eternal beauty thanks to the hundreds of girls
she`s killed. Their hearts are the secret to her youth and beauty. She rules
along with her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) who is more like her servant. Once
Ravenna discovers that Snow White`s beauty is a threat to her powers she sends
Finn to bring her in order to kill her, but Snow White manages to escape and
hides in the dark forest. That is when Ravenna hires the Huntsman (Chris
Hemsworth) to go after her and bring her back, but once the Huntsman meets Snow
White he decides to protect her instead. Snow White`s childhood friend, William
(Sam Claflin), hears she`s still alive and also begins searching for her in
order to protect her and overthrow the evil Queen. Along the way Snow White and
the Huntsman run into some dwarfs (played by such great actors as Ian McShane,
Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, and Johnny
Harris) who also decide to protect her from the evil powers of the Queen and so
the journey continues.

I
actually enjoyed some of the supporting characters in this film. The actors
that played the dwarfs brought a lot of comedy to an otherwise very dark and
serious film. Chris Hemsworth was the other actor who brought some comedic
relief to the table, and perhaps my favorite character of the film (reminding
us as to why Thor was so good despite the ridiculous plot). The film had its
entertaining moments, but I just felt it too dark of a picture for my enjoyment
and really wished it would have had a better ending. Was it better than I
expected it to be? Yes, but that doesn’t mean it was good either. Kristen
Stewart is a beautiful actress, but she didn’t fit the role of Snow White, she
is not the typical sweet actress, there is some darkness in her as well. This
is not a kid’s version of Snow White and is mostly for adults, but I still was
left with an empty feeling from the theater as if something were missing. I didn’t
have a terrible time with this film; I would give it a 5.8, almost enjoyable.